White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Metro’s on a Sunday schedule. All the usual major-holiday closures are in effect. No official White Center fireworks show, but there’s the 3 pm parade in Burien, fireworks off Three Tree Point tonight, and the WC Jubilee Days July 13th fireworks show isn’t that far away. If you buy fireworks in the unincorporated area, they’re legal to use 9 am-midnight tonight – and that’s it, you’re done for the year. Have a safe and fun day!

Story and photos by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

Harlem’s World Children’s Boutique is one of White Center’s newest businesses, open less than a month in a retail space that is part of a live-work unit in the Greenbridge community directly across from the Greenbridge Plaza on 8th SW in White Center, not far south of Roxbury.

Owner Danté Mitchell is a first-time business owner at 30 years old. He is a graduate of the StartZone small business program at Highline Community College and is ready to make his mark as a specialist in new and lightly worn, hard-to-find children’s clothing.

Dante shared his vision for his small, nicely stocked store, tucked between the King County Sheriff’s Greenbridge Office and another live-work unit housing a hair salon.

“I just want to bring something to the community that is contemporary and fashionable, but at a reasonable cost to my customers. I know how it is sometimes for kids if you don’t have the right clothes or right “look” growing up. Children will tease each other. So I want to provide options to help build the children’s self-esteem, so they feel comfortable and confident,” he said. “And I want to help the parents as well by letting them know they can spend in a way that is not too strenuous for their pocketbooks for great clothing and merchandise.“

“But,” he continues, “this is about more than just making money in the community. It’s also about networking with other organizations, such as Cherish A Jewel, which assists single mothers throughout Seattle. We are partnering to impact the communities at large. I will offer her members discounts at our store. And you know, there are times when mothers can’t afford anything, so sometimes we just bless them with clothing for their children just to help them get started.”

Dante also points out an empty case that was to be filled soon with kids’ jewelry.

“I love kids and hope to be a parent one day — I am working on getting married,” he says with a smile. “But I am mentor to a lot of nephews and nieces and kids in my church. I volunteer at missions and homeless shelters with kids too. Harlem’s World is named after my god-daughter Harlem,” he says softly, pointing to Harlem’s picture, proudly centered on the store wall.

Harlem’s World carries sizes newborn to 18. Name brands such as Juicy Couture, True Religion and Baby Couture and Gap are crisply steam-pressed and meticulously arranged on racks in the small, clean and comfortable space. There’s a bargain table as well with stacks of even lower-priced items available to peruse.

Dante has been debating about whether to open the store to consignment agreements, but is not yet venturing in that direction. The hours are currently Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 am– 6 pm, 9830 8th SW, #104, and he invites you to stop by with your kids to say hello and have a look.

As had been noted in the long comment thread following our story about the future plans for the site formerly known as “Club Evo“, the participants in its current partnership say they will be at next Thursday’s meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council. And indeed, they’re on the agenda just forwarded by NHUAC president Barbara Dobkin, along with many other big issues/topics:

7:00 p.m. Call to order
Flag Salute
Roll Call
Approval of Agenda
Approval of Minutes
7:05 p.m. Public Announcements
7:10 p.m. Public Comment – 3 minutes for individuals
5 minutes for groups
7:15 p.m. Mike Martin, Burien City Manager
7:20 p.m. KCSO Capt Joseph Hodgson – Crime Stats
7:25 p.m. Ruth Ann Matthias – Des Moines Memorial Drive Upgrade Project
7:30 p.m. Rep. Sharon Nelson
7:40 p.m. Rep Joe Fitzgibbon
7:50 pm Jim Chan, DDES
8:00 pm Alfredo Lopez & Daniel Yarbrough – Partners of new Dance Club formerly Club Evo
8:15 p.m. Treasurers Report
8:20 p.m. .Corresponding Secretary Report
8:25 p.m. Committee Reports
1. Governance
2. Arts and Parks
3. Public Safety
4. Housing and Human Services
5. Public Outreach
6. Transportation
8:30 p.m. Unfinished Business
UAC Funding
White Center Blvd Park Libraries
8:40 p.m. New Business
White Center Store Front Deputies
August & September Agenda Items

Just in from White Center Jubilee Days – the official news release outlining this month’s events!

White Center Jubilee Days is a Seafair-Sanctioned Community Event. The street fair and parade will celebrate it’s 89th year in White Center in 2011. The festival continues to grow. In 2010 a Garden Tour was revived, Fireworks, an Auto Show and Shine, and a Gala Auction were added. This year new events include the Spring Fling & Pinewood Derby, Rock ~n~ Bowl, and a Retro Roller Skating Party.

July 9, 2011
The McLendon Hardware Garden Tour
This year’s Garden Tour will again start in the parking lot of McLendon Hardware,
10210 16th Avenue SW
The tour will feature 10 distinctive gardens in the White Center area and then end back at McLendon’s.
9:00 am – 6:00 pm

July 13, 2011
The second annual Jubilee Days Fireworks Show.
Steve Cox Memorial Park
15th SW & 102nd
This spectacular show consists of 500 shells spanning 20 minutes Starts at dusk.

July 13 – 16, 2011
Davis Shows Carnival
Steve Cox Memorial Park
15th SW & 102nd
Wednesday 3:00pm -10:00pm
Thursday 12:00pm -10:00pm
Friday 12:00pm -11:00pm
Saturday 12:00pm -11:00pm
Sunday 12:00pm -10:00pm

July 14, 2011
Rock and Bowl
Magic Lanes
10612 15th Ave SW
8:00pm – 11:00pm

July 15, 2011
Retro Roller Skating Party
Southgate Roller Rink
9646 16th Ave SW
7:30pm – 11:00pm

July 16, 2011
Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast
Holy Family Church
9622 20th Ave SW
7:30 am to 12:00 pm

July 16 – 17, 2011
White Center Jubilee Days Street Fair
17th Avenue SW,
Between 98th and 102nd

July 16, 2011
Auto Show and Shine
SW White Center Cutoff
(16th Ave SW & SW 100th St)
8:00am – 4:00pm
Last year there were tricked-out and souped-up cars from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s through today and this year is bound to be better than ever! We will have Rat Rods, Hot Rods, Lowriders, Customs, Lead Sleds and Classics. There will be pin striping the day of the event and show casing by Renegade Bikes.

July 17, 2011
White Center Jubilee Days Parade
16th Avenue from 112th, North to 100th Street
11:00 am

December 3, 2011
Autumn Auction
Time & Location TBA

2011 will mark the 23rd year that White Center has participated in a Seafair-sanctioned community event. An event planned for the local businesses to participate and support the community and its resources and talent.

It is an opportunity for neighbors to get to know their neighbors, community service providers and local business members.

For more information visit www.jubileedays.org

(Thursday image from construction webcam at Strength of Place Village)
Updates from Kate Gill de la Garza at Capitol Hill Housing, which is a partner in building Strength of Place Village in White Center: They’re about to start taking applications for people to move into the low-income housing development at 14th and 100th, and there also will be a community tour for anyone interested in taking a look as it gets closer to completion. Here are those two announcements.

Submit an application
Sit down with a Quantum Management representative to fill out an application for housing & ask questions!
Date: Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Location: YWCA Learning Center at Greenbridge
Address: 9720 8th Avenue SW
Time: 3 pm-7 pm

For that event ONLY, child care, light refreshments and interpretation in Spanish, Vietnamese & Somali will be available, according to the announcement. Also, you can find a housing application by going to this page on the White Center Community Development Association site or picking one up at WCCDA HQ at 1615 SW Cambridge. Meantime, here’s the tour announcement:

Community Tour
Come and see what quality affordable housing looks like!
This tour is open to all!
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Location: Intersection of 14th Avenue SW & SW 100th Street
Time: 4 pm-6 pm

You can check in on the construction via the site webcam – see it here.

Story and photo by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

Organizers met at Big Al Brewing Wednesday evening, working hard to pull together their “to do” lists for the 88th year of the Jubilee Days celebration in White Center, expected to draw 25,000 people.

Organizers told WCN that as they continue to dial in the remaining details, posters and the official program (with discounts and coupons for local businesses, by the way) have been distributed around the business district and beyond. Keep an eye out and pick one up for the event-by-event and daily schedules you’ll want to have to plan.

The next upcoming event is the Garden Tour, on Saturday, July 9. It begins in the parking lot at McLendon Hardware (10210 16th SW) at 9 am. There will be tour packets to be picked up for the free, 10-garden tour. McLendon is the sponsor for the event and a popular Treasure Hunt will be held again: Find items from a list at each garden, identify them all, and win a $25 McLendon gift card. If folks have questions about the garden tour, the person to contact is Heather at gardenwalk@jubileedays.org or call 206-920-4144.

The members told WCN that the funding and operating of Jubilee Days is dependent on business sponsorship and while many have already taken the opportunity to promote civic pride and positive marketing for their businesses, sponsorship, support opportunities remain.

There are a multitude of sponsorship levels to participate at, but we were also told they are still seeking sponsorship for the much-anticipated July 13 fireworks display at Steve Cox Memorial Park . They say it is 20-minutes of solid spectacle, so if you have an interest in getting a lot of bang for your sponsorship buck, this might be the event for your business or organization! The Jubilee point person to answer any questions you might have if you are interested in getting in on the annual sponsorship tradition at any level is Peter Mort, peterjmort@gmail.com or 204-0661.

White Center Jubilee Days Officers and Board Members for 2011 are President Michael McGrath, Vice President Julie Hiatt, Secretary Karen Paden and Treasurer Stephen Lamphear. Lots of festival information can be found at jubileedays.org.

From the Boys and Girls Club in Greenbridge:

Southwest Boys & Girls Club in White Center Teams Up With USDA Simplified Summer Food Program to Provide Supper for More Kids

The Southwest Boys & Girls Club announces the sponsorship of the Simplified Summer Food Program for Children. Meals will be made available at no charge to attending children 18 years of age and younger.

All meals are available without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Any person who believes that he or she has been discriminated against should write immediately to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington D.C. 20250-9410 or call toll free (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TTY). The USDA is an equal opportunity employer.

The Southwest Boys & Girls Club is located at 9800 8th Ave SW, Suite 105.

Supper is available Monday – Friday, June 27th – July 1st, and August 15th -September 6th (except on Labor Day, September 5th) from 5:00-5:30 pm.

Story and photos by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

More than 50 community members were in attendance as the King County Library Services Board of Trustees met in Issaquah Tuesday, hoping to have their collective voices heard regarding the North Highline Library Service Recommendation to consolidate the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries.

(From left, Liz Giba of NHUAC, Burien City Councilmember Rose Clark, WCCDA’s Virgil Domaoan, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, NHUAC president Barb Dobkin)
The White Center Library Guild presented its petition (as reported here) to the Board with just shy of 1,800 signatures. Comments to the Board were broad, repeating many of the same issues presented in previous meetings. But the perceived lack of effective outreach to the regular WC and Boulevard Park library users was pointed out by Virgil Domaoan, community builder director of the White Center Community Development Association, who lives in Boulevard Park.

He joined the petition efforts initiated by the White Center Library Guild and discovered during their doorbelling campaign that people had not heard about the potential library closures and were concerned how they would get to another location to use a computer every day. He pointed out these are families who do not have the computers commonly found in other neighborhoods where internet access and computer ownership is common place. Domaoan said only one person refused to sign the petition, a mother who wanted her son to be present when she signed it so he could witness what she was doing as a civic lesson.

Greg Duff, former North Highline Unincorporated Area Council member who is a candidate for Burien City Council, told the Board that his petition drive at the recent Burien Wild Strawberry Festival resulted in two main takeaways from the public he spoke with: It was suggested that Board members themselves visit the Boulevard Park and White Center libraries any day around 4:00 PM to see for themselves the high volume of computer users. The second takeaway was why should they, as voters, ever vote for a library bond again when they were lied to about the 2004 bond?

Astha Tada, speaking to the Board as a former teacher and as a Guild Member, wore an 18-pound backpack as she spoke. That’s the average weight of what kids carry every day back and forth to school, saying she learned that when she “googled” it in her research. In true teacher fashion, she wore it to illustrate the unwieldy weight children would be expected to bear while walking even further to a new library location from school and home because, she said, there will be no transportation options for them when they do not have money for a bus.

Safia Jama told the Board through a Somali interpreter that she is the mother of six children raised in White Center for the last 15 years. “Every day I have taken my children to the library in White Center. My children are in elementary, middle and high school and university. I am not lying. All of them use the library every day.”

Having heard all of these and many other passionate and articulate speakers, the Board spared any debate regarding convening an Executive Session to hear the staff’s proposed sites for a new library, as Director Ptacek suggested the Board do as the agenda outlined. The agenda was changed and a motion was made and immediately approved to delay any decisions on consolidation until further information was available about the potential for the Burien annexation of North Highline.

That’s one of the fireworks stands that officially opened Tuesday – as of today, they can be open 9 am-11 pm through Monday, but fireworks can only be used 9 am-midnight ***on*** Monday. More details in our story from earlier this week. (And remember, fireworks are banned on both sides of the unincorporated area – Burien and Seattle.)

White Center Now contributor Deanie Schwarz covered today’s King County Library Board meeting, and says board members have decided again to put off a decision about potentially consolidating the White Center and Boulevard Park branches. This time, they say they want to wait until there is more information about Burien’s annexation intent; as reported here earlier, Burien is now studying the possibility, with financial feasibility updates expected later this summer. More details to come.

(Photo courtesy White Center Community Development Association, used with permission)
Next time you’re at 16th and Roxbury, take a close look and appreciate the freshened-up planting areas! Nhan Nguyen of the White Center Community Development Association shared the news today that a small group went out on Sunday to beautify the corner. He says that nearby Pho Lynna and Decoraciones Ely have ” volunteered to take care of regular watering.” The planting, according to Nhan, was led by Erika and Clark from Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle and WCCDA member Judy.

Want to be part of an occasional “mini-cleanup” in the business district? WCCDA would love to hear from you – and Nhan says they’ll supply the trash bags, trash pickers, and gloves!

With White Center’s King County Sheriff’s Office deputy-less at last check, you might be interested in a news release from the county today – about restoration of funding for a deputy in the Skyway storefront, and county assistance as the West Hill area moves toward annexation. Read the news release here.

Just a week till the 4th of July – and we noticed fireworks stands are up and waiting in the unincorporated areas (White Center, Top Hat, etc.). So it’s a good time to remind you: In the unincorporated areas, fireworks can be sold starting noon-11 pm Tuesday, and then 9 am-11 pm daily through July 4th – but even though you can BUY them before the holiday, you can only USE them on the 4th, 9 am-midnight.

As for official professional fireworks displays – there’s the Seattle show over Lake Union, visible from north-facing West Seattle, and Three Tree Point, offshore. But you might just decide to wait for the sure-to-be-spectacular-again Jubilee Days fireworks at Steve Cox Memorial Park on July 13th.

By Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

Alfred Lopez, owner of 9625 16th SW and the now-dissolved entity that did business there as Club Evolucion, has confirmed to WCN that he has a new plan for the space.

He confirms that he has entered into a formal, as-yet-unnamed and unincorporated partnership with Danny Yarbrough (at right, above, with Lopez at left; he’s owner of Citrus) that will develop the former Club Evo space into a Latin “banda” entertainment venue (for 18 and over) and eventual restaurant and lounge.

The partners finalized their agreement this past week and spoke to WCN about the development of the property, which was placed under a permanent injunction through the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Civil Division in May. The partners have begun in earnest, having already met with DDES, contacted the city of Burien Police and Sgt. Rodney Chinnick, the head of the KCSO’s Gang Unit, as well as contacting the Police Guild about off-duty deputy security coverage.

“We will make sure we get all of the proper licenses and permits before we do anything. We had a meeting with DDES about what we need to do. The first step is the sprinklers and Fire Department inspections. Then the public entertainment and public dance permits and the state of Washington master business license,” Yarbrough explains.

The partners also spoke of in-the-near future plans for outreach to various community organizations to (re-)introduce themselves and their proposed business model. They’re looking at the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, the White Center Community Development Association, the White Center Chamber of Commerce and the newer White Center Business Owners of Sustainable Support mixer group.

The club was shut down for noncompliance last year and soon after, the property went into foreclosure proceedings. But, the property was not put up for sale as a foreclosure, says Lopez, because he found a group of investors to assist in paying off the 10-year note to the previous owner.

Lopez is very clear to state that the first compliance task is to meet the requirements of the injunction before any business of any kind is to operate at the space in the heart of the revitalizing White Center business district. Those requirements will include any and all of the proper county and state licenses, but in order to apply for licenses, the site’s sprinkler system must be given occupancy approval by the North Highline Fire District fire marshal.

The sprinkler system installation was completed in November 2010 by an approved contractor; however, a completely new and separate water line and meter needs to be approved and installed by Seattle Public Utilities. The Fire Department ordered specific work to be done such as closing up exposed walls and will not be back till the meter and water lines are installed and approved to inspect the sprinkler system.

King County has approved the sprinkler plans on paper and Lopez believes the County will be forwarding them shortly to SPU. If and when SPU approves the plans, the meter installation will be scheduled six to eight weeks out, depending on the backlog of work.

The problematic history of the former Club Evo goes back a number of years and Lopez says emphatically and repeatedly that the space will never be like the former Club Evo again. Once all compliance work has been met and all appropriate licenses have been approved, they intend to open one night a week – Saturdays – as an 18-and-older dance venue with live “banda” music – Mexican country music — Yarbrough says, with salsa and meringue dancing. They plan on operating about four to six months with this schedule to generate initial revenue as they design the 16th Ave facing side of the property for a restaurant/lounge. That work will require major remodeling, including the installation of a kitchen and hood. They say they will not be serving alcohol on the premises during this period.

Lopez is living with his two teenage sons in the upstairs apartments while he finalizes the partnership agreement and oversees the remodeling and compliance work. He is licensed to practice law in the state of Washington, mostly occasional personal-injury cases for friends, he says, but lives most of the time in Southern California. He said that he plans on being in White Center as much as possible as this new business model is undertaken. “I want nothing to do with the old Club Evo. Believe me, “ he said. As if to make his point, he went outside the building and removed the old exterior signage as our interview concluded.

A new coat of paint was put on a few days later.

After the sprinkler system and meter are approved, the next phase of the partnership will be the design work with new partner Yarbrough who, in addition to being involved with Exposure, a promotions company, owned a Belltown restaurant prior to selling it and purchasing the former TGIF site on Lake Union to develop Citrus development in 2010. Yarbrough also worked for Consolidated Restaurants (Metropolitan Grill, Union Square Grill and Elliott’s Oyster House) as a bookkeeper after college, as well as a bartender and assistant manager. He also worked in real estate during the boom market in Seattle and began to “flip” commercial properties soon after.

Lopez told us, “We want to eliminate any problems we had before, the biggest prior one being a hip-hop crowd on Friday nights.“

“This will be a salsa and meringue crowd – cowboy boots and hats and Mexican country music,” Yarbrough added.

“We will be eliminating any issues we had before with minors. And the most important measure, aside from having off-duty officers on site both inside and out, is that a strict dress code will be enforced,” said Lopez. “I forbid gang-related attire.“

“If they don’t come dressed appropriately and are unwilling to undergo a full-body pat down, they will be asked to leave and maybe come back another time,” said Yarbrough, who says he will be acting on site as Operating Manager. He will also be hiring civilian security staff.

They discussed plans for eventually multi-purposing the large dance hall section for rentals, for quinceañeras or graduations, bar mitzvahs or community events and the like once compliance has been achieved and the restaurant has been built out. The dance area will have new flooring and a stage installed, as well as a new lighting system. The hoped-for eventual design phase will include menu development and extensive reworking of the 16th Ave. SW. side of the property to include new bathrooms, kitchen and lounge area.

If everything goes as they have planned, they hope to be open in two months.

The White Center Library Guild‘s yard sale IS on today, till 3 pm – 1110 SW 116th – rained out last week but today, so far so good! (Thanks to Gill for the photo.)

From White Center Art Walk organizers:

For the month of July, we are hosting as many local artists as we can for a Live Painting extravaganza! We are doing an open call for local artists that may be interested in participating. This will be a great opportunity for them to get out, meet new faces and make more contacts with our consistently growing art community.

Last month we hosted a highly successful ‘Mini-Film-Festival’ that brought us a bunch of new faces. They toured our list of participating artwalk venues and were treated with 3 different film
venues that showed a wide range of short films. Everyone-had-a blast.

This coming month we are hoping to do something similar while
highlighting some of our favorite local live painters.

We are looking for a wide range of artists that are willing to paint at one of our participating venues. The artwalk takes place July 16th, from 6-9pm. Participators are asked to show around 5:30 pm to set up. We are happy to provide drop-cloths if they don’t have one and will make an effort to rustle up an easel if need be.

Interested? Call Devrim ASAP. 206 484 0399.

Throughout its third-anniversary-celebration day on Monday, Full Tilt Ice Cream in White Center was hopping – we took the photo above at 8:30 that night! And as noted here, they were planning to donate to the White Center Food Bank the equivalent of the ice cream sold that day. So, the verdict’s in, according to the WC Food Bank Facebook page – “Results are in: 200 pints of ice cream are coming to WCFB from Full Tilt’s Monday anniversary celebration/ice cream raiser for WCFB. Thanks to Full Tilt and everyone that came out to buy ice cream!”

P.S. WC Food Bank is one of many local nonprofits that you can support with an online $ donation today through the Seattle Foundation’s one-day GiveBIG drive. Find them (and other eligible White Center orgs, including WCCDA) on this list – and follow the links there to donate today and make them eligible for “stretch” dollars – gotta do it by midnight!

The August 16 primary is less than two months away, and local groups are making their endorsements. Both of the legislative-district Democrats’ groups in this area have now made their endorsements. King County Council Position 8 will be on the August ballot since there are three candidates (the top two advance to November). The 11th District Democrats have just posted their endorsement list (read it here) – they have endorsed both Joe McDermott and Diana Toledo in that race. The 34th District Democrats held their endorsement meeting earlier this month and endorsed McDermott (here’s the list on their site; here’s our coverage on partner site West Seattle Blog). Not sure whose district you’re in? Here’s the map for the 11th District; here’s the map for the 34th District. (Any Republican groups have endorsement meetings just past or

Here’s what the overnight police presence in downtown White Center was all about. From King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart:

Two men apparently shooting at each other last night (June 21st) left one man injured and no one under arrest. One gun was recovered however.

The incident occurred just after 10:00 PM. A 25 year-old man was at Papa’s Pub … He reportedly went out outside to have a smoke. There was an altercation, shots were fired, and he was hit at least once. He ran to a nearby minimart, bleeding profusely. Police were called.

Reports from witnesses say two men were shooting at each as they ran down the street. However it is unclear if the injured man was one of the shooters or an uninvolved bystander.

Sheriff’s deputies found a semiautomatic handgun in a dumpster near the shooting scene.

The injured man was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment, during which suspected rock cocaine was pulled from his rectum.

There have been no arrests and the investigation is continuing.

3:38 PM NOTE: As pointed out in comments, the original KCSO news release had an erroneous address for the pub. The address at 15th and Roxbury was actually the minimart to which the victim ran. We have taken out the erroneous address reference above and replaced it with ellipses.

“So here we are,” Burien city manager Mike Martin began as he opened a quick recap of where the issue of North Highline annexation stood, before tonight’s scheduled Burien City Council discussion.

No council action was taken – they voiced opinions, as you will read below.

First, Martin described Seattle’s recent decision to table annexation till February as a “major departure” from where things had stood previously. That wasn’t the only factor sparking a new Burien council discussion of annexation, however, he said, mentioning the King County Library Board’s discussion of potentially consolidating the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries.

Martin also mentioned commissioning a financial study with an organization that he says does this type of study and already has “a tremendous amount of information about the (prospective) annexation area.” He says the financial data should be available in late July/early August.

Councilmember Gordon Shaw followed up Martin’s briefing by voicing skepticism about the financial viability of annexation, given a previous study, but said he would like to see the study showing the effects of a changing economy, and what he said was apparently a lower population: “I think they’ve lost 3,000 people up there.” He also said he would like to know how it would affect the city overall.

Councilmember Lucy Krakowiak asked what kind of educational outreach is planned for citizens. Martin said “Council will be taking comments at every council meeting they have until they make a decision – identical to last time.” She also wondered if information was available about major developments planned in the potential annexation area.

Councilmember Jack Block, Jr. talked about the difference between the perception and the reality of White Center. “if you take a drive through White Center, there are virtually no empty storefronts – I wish we could say that here in Burien.” He described WC’s “vitality and growth” as “homegrown” and expressed a hope that it would be emulated in Burien.

“If we don’t vote for it, we don’t have control over that area, and the density could increase, crime could increase, a bunch of public housing is put in there because historically that’s how Seattle does things,” Block suggested, worrying about a “spillover … Think about protecting our community. Do we want to have a say in that area, or just let whatever happens, happen up there?”

He noted that Burien has a budget surplus, while King County has been dealing with a budget shortfall, and, in his view, has put unincorporated North Highline problems “on a back burner.” He also voiced concern about county housing projects in the works, and whether they might unduly burden Burien.

Councilmember Gerald Robison pointed out that he has been working on the annexation issue “for a long time” and says “there are a lot of perceptions out there that I don’t think is accurate.” He contended that it’s “simply not true” that the area is made up of a large population of people who require government services. “What they need is good government, and that’s what they’ve been lacking up there,” he contended, adding that he believes Burien could provide that “good government.” He echoed Block’s point that White Center has a lot of thriving businesses, “the kind of independent businesspeople who are exactly what we are talking about in our mission statement.”

But “I won’t even vote for annexation if it means raising taxes on the rest of the residents in Burien,” Robison vowed. And he said he believes it’s important for Burien’s “survival” to take a look at annexing the area if it can be done. The area doesn’t need Burien, he acknowledged, but “if their options are going to Seattle or going to Burien, I think for the sake of Burien and the sake of the people in North Highline, if we can manage it, we should do it.”

Councilmember Rose Clark said she agreed wholeheartedly with Block and Robison. She said she also believes that if there’s a continued effort to “concentrate poverty” in the greater Highline area, it will “break” the community – and she says what happens in White Center (etc.) will affect Burien too. “The only way to address that is to take a good hard look at North Highline and what we can do to mitigate” the concentration of poverty to which she referred. “If all of that (financial analysis) pencils out, we have to look at what that area becomes” with King County services dwindling.

Deputy Mayor Brian Bennett discussed his roots going back generations in the North Highline area, and saying that while that area likely would prefer to be left alone the reality of county and state laws and finances are that, they cannot be left alone – “they’re going to be incorporated somewhere … If Seattle does take over Area Y, what their incentives are going to be in how they treat Area Y , and whether the decisionmakers for that area are going to be impacted by what happens there, or are they going to be in the north side (of the city) and not affected.”

Councilmember Krakowiak then said “This is a big issue before us and it behooves us to take our time.” She said she would be a likely “no” vote if they were voting on it right now.

At the start of the meeting, in a public-comment session that lasted more than half an hour, seven people expressed opposition to or concern about annexation – with a common theme, if Seattle says it can’t afford annexation, how can Burien? – while two familiar White Center community advocates, Liz Giba and Rachael Levine, spoke favorably about it. (We will add details of the comments later.)